This application is based on and claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. 198 33 310.2 filed Jul. 24, 1998, which is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a process for providing functions to a telecommunications terminal (TER) which is connected to an exchange (EX) via a subscriber line (SL), a control system for a telecommunications network for providing functions to such a terminal, a terminal (TER) which can be connected to an exchange (EX) via a subscriber line (SL), decoupled from the connection (VL1, VL2), carried out via a control system (CS) and once again incoupled into the subscriber line (SL), an exchange to which such a terminal can be connected, and to incoupling, decoupling and combination devices each for providing functions to at least one telecommunications terminal which is connected to an exchange via a subscriber line.
Terminals for telecommunications networks, in particular, telephone sets, are equipped with various functions which make the operation of the terminals simpler or easier. Many of these functions are permanently installed into the terminals and immediately available, for example, redial, with which a previously dialed telephone number can be repeated with a single keystroke of a special redial key. However, before using other functions, the terminals must be programmed expressly for this purpose. For example, for a speed-dial key with which a telephone number consisting of several digits can be dialed by pressing a single key, a telephone number assignment must be input and stored in the terminal.
There are elegant terminals for, in particular, mobile data telecommunications networks and for ISDN telecommunications networks (ISDN=Integrated Services Digital Network). Terminals for such telecommunications networks can, for example, display the names of a caller in a display device. For this, the telephone number and the name of the caller must be input into a memory of such a terminal by the operator. In the case of an incoming call, the telephone number of the caller is transmitted in the form of a so-called CLIP (Calling Line Identification Presentation) signaling so that the terminal can find the name of the caller in its memory with the aid of a comparison of the transmitted telephone number to the stored telephone number and can display it on the display device.
If still more elegant functions are demanded of a terminal, then, on the one hand, a very high-performance terminal is necessary, for example, a terminal with a high-performance processor and a large memory. On the other hand, extensive and individually adaptable functions of such a terminal, such as, for example, a user interface, can only be configured with difficulty on such a terminal since this usually offers only a few special keys along with a numerical keyboard. Thus, for such a configuration, a personal computer is usually required which has at its disposal, along with an extensive keyboard, also a graphical input aid (for example, a mouse). The functions configured on the personal computer are then loaded as a software package over a connecting line to the terminal.
It is the objective of the invention to provide to a terminal, in a simple and efficient way, functions for a telecommunications network by loading data from a control system.
This objective is realized by a process for providing functions to a telecommunications terminal (TER) which is connected to an exchange (EX) via a subscriber line (SL) characterized by the fact that a connection of the subscriber line is carried out via a control system (CS) on the network side, while a decoupling device decouples the connection from the subscriber line and an incoupling device incouples the connection once again into the subscriber line, and that the control system provides the functions in the terminal (TER) by manipulation of data which are transmitted on the connection.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a control system (CS) for a telecommunications network with devices for providing functions to a terminal (TER) which is connected via a subscriber line (SL) to an exchange (EX) characterized by the fact that the control system (CS) has receiving means (R1) in order to receive data which are transmitted on a connection (VL1, VL2) decoupled from the subscriber line (SL) and once again incoupled into the subscriber line (SL), that the control system (CS) has transmission means (S1) to transmit data on the connection (VL2), and that the control system (CS) has means to provide the functions to the terminal (TER) by manipulation of data which are transmitted on the connection (VL1, VL2).
According to a still further aspect of the invention, there is provided a terminal (TER) for a telecommunications network with devices for providing functions to the terminal (TER) which can be connected to an exchange (EX) via a subscriber line (SL), decoupled from the connection (VL1, VL2), carried out via a control system (CS) and once again incoupled into the subscriber line (SL) characterized by the fact that the terminal (TER) has means via which it can be connected to the control system (CS) on the connection (VL1, VL2), and that the terminal (TER) has means to provide the functions with the aid of data which are transmitted on the connection (VL1, VL2) and manipulated by the control system (CS).
The invention further comprises an exchange to which a terminal can be connected via a subscriber line characterized by the fact that the exchange has decoupling means with which the exchange can decouple a connection from the subscriber line, that the exchange has incoupling means with which the exchange can incouple the connection into the subscriber line, and that the exchange has connecting means with which a control system can be connected to the connection.
The invention still further comprises an incoupling device (INCPX) for providing functions to at least one telecommunications terminal which is connected to an exchange via a subscriber line characterized by the fact that the incoupling device has connecting means (INCONSL, OUTCONSL) via which, along with the subscriber line (SL1), at least one additional subscriber line (SL2) can be connected to the incoupling device, that the incoupling device has incoupling means (INCOUP) with which the incoupling device can incouple at least one connection (VL1X, VL2X) into both the subscriber line (SL1) and the (at least) one additional subscriber line (SL2), and that the incoupling device has connecting means (CONCS) via which at least one control system (CSX) can be connected to the connections incoupled by the incoupling device and via which the incoupling device (INCPX) can receive data from the at least one control system (CSX) with which functions can be provided at least at the terminal.
There is also provided a decoupling device (DECPX) for providing functions to at least one telecommunications terminal which is connected to an exchange via a subscriber line characterized by the fact that the decoupling device has connecting means (INCONSL, OUTCONSL) via which, along with the subscriber line (SL1), at least one additional subscriber line (SL2) can be connected to the decoupling device, that the decoupling device has decoupling means (DECOUP) with which the decoupling device can decouple at least one connection (VL1X, VL2X) from each of the subscriber line (SL1) and the at least one additional subscriber line (SL2), and that the decoupling device has connection means (CONCS) via which the at least one control system (CSX) can be connected to the connections decoupled by the decoupling device and via which the decoupling device [sic] (INCPX) can transmit data to the at least one control system (CSX) with which functions can be provided at least to the terminal.
Finally, the invention includes a combination device (INDECPX) for providing functions to at least one telecommunications terminal which is connected to an exchange via a subscriber line characterized by the fact that the combination device has connecting means (INCONSL, OUTCONSL) via which, along with the subscriber line (SL1), at least one additional subscriber line (SL2) can be connected to the combination device, that the combination device has decoupling means (DECOUP) with which the incoupling device can decouple at least one connection (VL1X, VL2X) from both the subscriber line (SL1) and the (at least) one additional subscriber line (SL2), that the combination device has incoupling means (INCOUP) with which the combination device can incouple a connection (VL1X, VL2X) into both the subscriber line (SL1) and the (at least) one additional subscriber line (SL2), and that the combination device has connecting means (CONCS) via which at least one control system (CSX) can be connected to the connections decoupled by the combination device and via which the combination device (INCPX) can transmit data to the at least one control system (CSX) or can receive data from the at least one control system (CSX) where, with that data, functions can be provided at least to the terminal.
Advantageous further developments of the invention will be apparent from the description below and the appended claims.